Fastenal 3Q17 Earnings Call Notes

“As you roll into 3Q, we feel like we got a little bit of incremental price but we also began to see a little bit of the incremental cost flowing through. And frankly, those probably balanced out relative to where we were in Q2. So, yes, we feel like the price that we envisioned getting, we got. The costs have begun to come through. We talked about that, perhaps hitting in Q4 that will certainly be the case but we saw some of that hit in Q3 as well to result in sort of stability in that dynamic, if you will.

There is still inflation; that hasn’t changed. And I think I would probably answer the question of how we address that the same way I have answered in the past which is that if at some point we determine that we can’t protect our level of profitability without resorting to some sort of price action, then we will take that step, and we believe that we would be successful in that. But we didn’t do anything along those lines in the third quarter.”

Continuing to see really good trends

“Luke, if I look at what we’re seeing, I have a few observations. One is we’re continuing to see really good trends in the numbers. Averages are in line with what you are seeing. Averages can be deceiving; you have some that are well above it, some that are below it. That’s the nature of the averages I guess. But very pleased with the run rates we are seeing from the standpoint of what we would have expected”